Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Director Reveals Surprising Story Behind the Planet Scarif’s Name

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards has revealed the surprising story of how the planet Scarif got its name, following a misunderstanding with a coffee shop barista during the drafting of the movie.

In a clip shared by the official Star Wars Twitter (X?) account, Edwards explained that Rogue One writer Gary Whitta found himself struggling to come up with original names as he toiled away on a draft for the Star Wars story.

“He was really excited about it,” explained Edwards. “But then after a while, after naming like the 50th thing and trying to come up with a unique name he was getting, like, a little bit bored, and wanted to share this problem.”

brb getting coffee on Scarif#RogueOne now streaming on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/VbpMm0AQSm

— Star Wars (@starwars) July 26, 2023

Whitta then asked Edwards to name the planet upon which the dramatic climax of the movie would unfold. The director headed out for coffee and a fateful interaction with a barista that would impact the lore of a galaxy far, far away.

“You know they write your name on the coffee and everything, and I must have said when they asked my name, ‘it’s Gareth’, and what they heard was ‘Scarif’,” said Edwards. “And I just came back in to Gary and I put it on the table, and I went ‘it’s called Scarif’.”

As noted by Edwards, the coffee shop worker likely has no idea how they influenced the Star Wars universe by inadvertently naming the world upon which Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso’s team fought to obtain the plans for the Death Star battlestation, and so set up the events of the original trilogy. Scarif has since cropped up multiple times in novels, comics, the live-action TV show Andor, and as levels in video games, including Star Wars Battlefront 2.

In our 9/10 review IGN described Rogue One as “a remarkable recreation of the original Star Wars’ world” that explores the universe “from a different, edgier perspective than is the norm”, and which is “filled with moments that will have fans cheering”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer